[color=blue][color=green]
> > I know that these are small questions, but they are niggling me, but I
> > really would love to get to grips with the minix3 system and like what I see
> > so far.[/color][/color]

[color=blue]
> These questions are not really about Minix, but rather about its
> default shell ash. Run packman and install your favourite shell, such
> as bash.[/color]

I appreciate this to an extent - however, I did read the
man ash and man sh pages and found nothing about
the prompt and why it changes when a non-existent
command is typed in, or why it does this when one
looks for the man page of a non-existent command.

Googling gave me nothing and neither did anything
else I found on the system itself or the internet.

I appreciate that this is a small "niggle" or quibble
or annoyance, but I would really like to understand
why the system does this - what was the thinking
behind those who wrote this shell?

I you read my other post, you would see that I have
no CDROM and cannot bring files from Windows
to Minix in order to install them. I cannot run
packman either - however, even if I could install
the bash shell, I would like to understand what's
going on. Maybe this behaviour is a good idea,
only I haven't figured out why yet?

I am currently working on resolving the missing
CDROM problem. I am running Minix as a virtual
machine under VMWare, brought onto the Windows
box with a memory stick, but Minix can't pick that
up (or at least I don't know how to do it yet), and
I can't boot from USB devices.

Thanks for your input.

Rgs./mvg

Paul...

[color=blue]
> Erik van der Kouwe[/color]

07-20-2008, 04:19 PM

unix

Re: Newbie question - 1

linehan.paul wrote ...[color=blue]
>
> Dowloaded the Minix3 virtual machine and the vmware player on a laptop
> that currently has no CD (see Newbie question - 2), and have played
> around with it for a wee while.
> A couple of questions have come up -- minor annoyances basically, and I
> wonder, could anybody shed any light on them.
>
> The prompt is "# ", which is fine; but, if I mistype a command -- say,
> # xyz
> I get:
> xyz: No such file or directory
> *
> where "* " is the new prompt, and it remains the prompt until I type in
> a valid command.
>
> Could someone tell me what this behaviour is about? I've never seen it
> with other shells I've worked with, and am just wondering what *_exactly_*
> it's telling me.[/color]

It is a visual indication that the most recent exit-status is not zero.
(The command "echo $?" shows the number.)
[color=blue]
>
> It also happens if I type, say, "man alias", where the alias command
> doesn't exist.
> Does the alias command not exist under ash? I would like to alias ls
> as "ls -lt" or similar.[/color]

Ash does not have "alias" -- you must define a function.
[color=blue]
>
> Thirdly, is there anyway of setting the system so that the Tab-key
> shows all the executables beginning with the letter or letters
> that I have typed into the line; i.e., if I type "c" + Tab,
> then I should be offered cc, chroot, cd, et. cetera.
> -- i.e., all the possible commands beginning with "c".
> It works well -- i.e., very Bash-like for filename-completion,
> but should be (IMHO) context-sensitive, and provide exe names
> in the right place.
> Finally, "Tab" on its own provides a similar (but *_NOT_* identical)
> output to "ls" -- finally, what's the difference, and why is it there?[/color]

Strictly speaking, neither the shell nor "the system" does that! A function
library that does line-editing handles the TAB-key. "Bigger" systems
usually have a library that is called "readline". "Standard" Minix has a
smaller, simpler library that is called "editline" (it has a man page).
"Readline" can know the context of the line that you are editing; "editline"
cannot.